Meet a few who walk in memory of those they love
- Updated
The All Souls Procession celebrates the dead, and gives a chance to lighten grief.
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them.
George Eliot
Sunday, Nov. 6, the annual event — now in its 27th year — will wend its way through downtown with thousands honoring those who have touched their lives and passed on. Mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends, pets — if a life has been impacted by a presence, it is remembered and honored through this remarkable event.
Dancers and musicians mixed with people who may carry photos, hoist shrines, wear costumes and face paint, will follow a giant urn through the two-mile route. At the end of the procession the urn, filled with messages, names, blessings and hope from participants, will be set on fire, the smoke sending the thoughts heavenward.
It’s an almost holy event, run entirely by volunteers. It’s cathartic, and a celebration.
More than 100,000 are expected to participate this year. Meet a few of them.
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Corina Riggs lives in Los Angeles but grew up in Tucson. She returns to her hometown for the procession. In one hand, she’ll carry a photo of her father, Vincent Riggs, who was 73 when congestive heart failure took him in March, and in the other, one of her fraternal grandmother, Elizabeth Riggs, who was 95 when she died in October.
“He thought everything was so neat,” Riggs says about her father, who long taught Spanish at Pima Community College, and whose laugh still remains fresh for her. “He was exposed to so many different things. He was in the Peace Corps, lived in Mexico, played the accordion, piano, guitar, and he taught me Spanish. If he were here he would think this is so cool. He loved Halloween, he loved childlike things. … I think he would love the procession; I’m sure he had been. He just embraced people’s differences. He thought he was Mexican — he had a mustache and played guitar in the mariachi conference.”
Riggs grandmother lived in Denver, but was a big part of her life, as well. “We spent every Christmas with her. She was the best cook. She always sent letters and remembered your birthday and holidays, and she had a beautiful garden. She had the sweetest apples I’ve ever eaten.”
Riggs will also walk thinking of her father’s brother, Byron Riggs, who still lives in Denver and cared for her grandmother until her death. He lost his brother and mother in an eight-month span. “I can’t imagine how hard it has been for him,” she says.
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Allegra Frazier’s mother, Darin Frazier, died of cardiac arrest in October, 2015. She was 57. Allegra, who grew up here, is coming from Carbondale, Ill., for the procession.
“I think it is cathartic,” she says of the event, which she use to attend when she was a student at the University of Arizona.
“My mom was a community organizer; she was dedicated to her neighborhood,” says Allegra. “She was mostly engaged in volunteerism. She had about 1,000 friends. She was hardworking and enthusiastic and took no prisoners and was just fantastic.”
She still feels her mother’s presence deeply. “When I have to make decisions, or need advice, I am able to parse together what she would say to me, so I still think I am having conversations with her.”
Allegra's whole family — grandparents, brothers, aunt, father — will gather in Tucson to remember Darin, who loved the All Souls Procession. “She wasn’t necessarily honoring anyone,” says Allegra. “She would get all dressed up and she really enjoyed it.”
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Giovanna Hesley has marched in the procession every year since her husband, Steven Hesley, died in 2011 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the lymph nodes. He was 52, and they had been married for just five years, together for seven. “He was the love of my adult life,” says Giovanna.
“He was very kind,” she says about Steven. “He was tall and quiet and athletic. He fostered dogs. … He was a woodworker, very creative. We had hiking in common. When we went out, he always looked for a heart-shaped granite. When he found the stone, he knew it was the right time to propose. He made big romantic gestures like that. … Both of us had terrible singing voices, but we would sit on our lawn chairs, look at the stars, and sing at the top of our lungs.”
“It was very helpful,” she says about participating in the procession after his death. “I was able to be in a crowd of people who felt the same. … A memorial wasn’t enough for me; I was happy to have the community.”
Giovanna, an artist, made beads out of his ashes and clay she collected from where they had their last hike. She often gives them out to people, including hikers she passes on the trails. Sunday, she’ll have her beads with her when she walks.
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Scott Blades, the executive director of the Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN), has walked in the procession for the last five years. “Doing the work I do in the HIV field, I’ve lost lots and lots of friends, but I am especially walking in the memory of my best friend and mentor. Dr. Myron Morris,” says Blades. “He’s still in my heart.” Morris was 83 when he passed away in 2008. He was a ferocious volunteer for TIHAN, caring for people, raising money and offering a hand and friendship.
“Every single day I think of him,” says Blades. “He was just the best person I’ve ever met. He had the biggest heart. He cared so deeply about people. He was a great connector of people. He volunteered, he donated, but mostly he cared so much and kept in such good contact with people in a way I strive to emulate but can’t come close to. You met him and in a half hour he would know the deepest parts of you and will have invited you to dinner … I am just blessed to be one of the people he took into the fold of his extended family and friends and let me be a part of his amazing life.”
The All Souls Procession “is such a beautiful event that celebrates those we’ve lost, and those souls still with us in spirit,” says Blades. “I like to be part of the energy of the procession and the amazing tributes and altars people bring, the beautiful costumes. It’s my favorite Tucson event.”
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Andrea Bryant's son, Michael Elliott, was 33 when he died in March. “This will be my first time walking, but I really feel I need to do it for the spiritual aspect,” she says.
Michael had a troubled adulthood, and while she never wavered in her love for him, Bryant holds on to the boy she raised.
“The Michael I loved was such a cheery, curly-haired redhead. A funny, sweet kid. He was the kid the teacher called you about. He was so funny, but he was so disruptive. He was a loyal, kind human. He loved animals. Michael grew up in Tucson, went to Catalina High School, was a football player, prom king. He had a really big heart and a really big soul. … He had a serious football injury when he was in high school. That’s where he got his first taste of legal dope, and really could never get it together after that. I’m very open about his story; we need to call it exactly what it is.”
She’ll walk the procession in costume, holding a large picture of Michael. “My whole thing is letting his spirit go.”
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
• The Procession of the Little Angels, for children and families, is 3-7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 at Armory Park, 221 S. 6th Ave.
• The All Souls Procession begins at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6 at the North Sixth Avenue Downtown underpass, but participants can join at any point along the route.
Information:allsoulsprocession.org
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them.
George Eliot
Sunday, Nov. 6, the annual event — now in its 27th year — will wend its way through downtown with thousands honoring those who have touched their lives and passed on. Mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends, pets — if a life has been impacted by a presence, it is remembered and honored through this remarkable event.
Dancers and musicians mixed with people who may carry photos, hoist shrines, wear costumes and face paint, will follow a giant urn through the two-mile route. At the end of the procession the urn, filled with messages, names, blessings and hope from participants, will be set on fire, the smoke sending the thoughts heavenward.
It’s an almost holy event, run entirely by volunteers. It’s cathartic, and a celebration.
More than 100,000 are expected to participate this year. Meet a few of them.
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
Corina Riggs lives in Los Angeles but grew up in Tucson. She returns to her hometown for the procession. In one hand, she’ll carry a photo of her father, Vincent Riggs, who was 73 when congestive heart failure took him in March, and in the other, one of her fraternal grandmother, Elizabeth Riggs, who was 95 when she died in October.
“He thought everything was so neat,” Riggs says about her father, who long taught Spanish at Pima Community College, and whose laugh still remains fresh for her. “He was exposed to so many different things. He was in the Peace Corps, lived in Mexico, played the accordion, piano, guitar, and he taught me Spanish. If he were here he would think this is so cool. He loved Halloween, he loved childlike things. … I think he would love the procession; I’m sure he had been. He just embraced people’s differences. He thought he was Mexican — he had a mustache and played guitar in the mariachi conference.”
Riggs grandmother lived in Denver, but was a big part of her life, as well. “We spent every Christmas with her. She was the best cook. She always sent letters and remembered your birthday and holidays, and she had a beautiful garden. She had the sweetest apples I’ve ever eaten.”
Riggs will also walk thinking of her father’s brother, Byron Riggs, who still lives in Denver and cared for her grandmother until her death. He lost his brother and mother in an eight-month span. “I can’t imagine how hard it has been for him,” she says.
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
Allegra Frazier’s mother, Darin Frazier, died of cardiac arrest in October, 2015. She was 57. Allegra, who grew up here, is coming from Carbondale, Ill., for the procession.
“I think it is cathartic,” she says of the event, which she use to attend when she was a student at the University of Arizona.
“My mom was a community organizer; she was dedicated to her neighborhood,” says Allegra. “She was mostly engaged in volunteerism. She had about 1,000 friends. She was hardworking and enthusiastic and took no prisoners and was just fantastic.”
She still feels her mother’s presence deeply. “When I have to make decisions, or need advice, I am able to parse together what she would say to me, so I still think I am having conversations with her.”
Allegra's whole family — grandparents, brothers, aunt, father — will gather in Tucson to remember Darin, who loved the All Souls Procession. “She wasn’t necessarily honoring anyone,” says Allegra. “She would get all dressed up and she really enjoyed it.”
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
Giovanna Hesley has marched in the procession every year since her husband, Steven Hesley, died in 2011 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the lymph nodes. He was 52, and they had been married for just five years, together for seven. “He was the love of my adult life,” says Giovanna.
“He was very kind,” she says about Steven. “He was tall and quiet and athletic. He fostered dogs. … He was a woodworker, very creative. We had hiking in common. When we went out, he always looked for a heart-shaped granite. When he found the stone, he knew it was the right time to propose. He made big romantic gestures like that. … Both of us had terrible singing voices, but we would sit on our lawn chairs, look at the stars, and sing at the top of our lungs.”
“It was very helpful,” she says about participating in the procession after his death. “I was able to be in a crowd of people who felt the same. … A memorial wasn’t enough for me; I was happy to have the community.”
Giovanna, an artist, made beads out of his ashes and clay she collected from where they had their last hike. She often gives them out to people, including hikers she passes on the trails. Sunday, she’ll have her beads with her when she walks.
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
Scott Blades, the executive director of the Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN), has walked in the procession for the last five years. “Doing the work I do in the HIV field, I’ve lost lots and lots of friends, but I am especially walking in the memory of my best friend and mentor. Dr. Myron Morris,” says Blades. “He’s still in my heart.” Morris was 83 when he passed away in 2008. He was a ferocious volunteer for TIHAN, caring for people, raising money and offering a hand and friendship.
“Every single day I think of him,” says Blades. “He was just the best person I’ve ever met. He had the biggest heart. He cared so deeply about people. He was a great connector of people. He volunteered, he donated, but mostly he cared so much and kept in such good contact with people in a way I strive to emulate but can’t come close to. You met him and in a half hour he would know the deepest parts of you and will have invited you to dinner … I am just blessed to be one of the people he took into the fold of his extended family and friends and let me be a part of his amazing life.”
The All Souls Procession “is such a beautiful event that celebrates those we’ve lost, and those souls still with us in spirit,” says Blades. “I like to be part of the energy of the procession and the amazing tributes and altars people bring, the beautiful costumes. It’s my favorite Tucson event.”
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
Andrea Bryant's son, Michael Elliott, was 33 when he died in March. “This will be my first time walking, but I really feel I need to do it for the spiritual aspect,” she says.
Michael had a troubled adulthood, and while she never wavered in her love for him, Bryant holds on to the boy she raised.
“The Michael I loved was such a cheery, curly-haired redhead. A funny, sweet kid. He was the kid the teacher called you about. He was so funny, but he was so disruptive. He was a loyal, kind human. He loved animals. Michael grew up in Tucson, went to Catalina High School, was a football player, prom king. He had a really big heart and a really big soul. … He had a serious football injury when he was in high school. That’s where he got his first taste of legal dope, and really could never get it together after that. I’m very open about his story; we need to call it exactly what it is.”
She’ll walk the procession in costume, holding a large picture of Michael. “My whole thing is letting his spirit go.”
- Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star
• The Procession of the Little Angels, for children and families, is 3-7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 at Armory Park, 221 S. 6th Ave.
• The All Souls Procession begins at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6 at the North Sixth Avenue Downtown underpass, but participants can join at any point along the route.
Information:allsoulsprocession.org
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